Holy Crap:This happened with "idiot," which used to be the preferred medical term, and at different times it also happened with several other terms. Whatever replaces 'retarded' is probably going to be almost instantly co-opted to mean the same thing in popular usage, and in a few years the whiny coonts who are getting upset by a spade being called a spade are going to be demanding that whatever replaces 'retarded' be replaced itself.

I managed to find this out with about two minutes of research the last time this exact issue came up, which is why I find it kind frustrating that these farking retards can't do the same.

Actually if you change the terms to complex conjugations and multi word phrases then they tend to be fairly resistant to being co-opted because the oblique references such as "differently abled" and whatever tend to be difficult to convert into insults, which tend to need to be short and pithy to feed into normal language as insults

I remember in the late-80s/90s when "special" became the politically correct term for the retarded. The very same day we were instructed that the Special Ed kids were not retards, but special, kids started using the term special as a pejorative.

To this day I have to take a mental pause any time I hear the word special used in conversation to consider if it's being used in a derogatory manner or not.

mattharvest:HairBolus: There is some name for this in linguistics where a nice neutral term like "retarded" is chosen to replace derogative terms like "moron" and "idiot", but it over time becomes mainly "bad".

Here's the problem: almost EVERY word for "stupid" is related to the concept of mental retardation/intellectual disability/whatever. Most of them actually originate in it.

Lunatic: deriving from the mistaken belief insanity was due to lunar influences.Moron: used to mean, medically, someone who was 'intellectually disabled', i.e. of an IQ below a certain threshold.Retarded: sameIdiot: sameInfantile: sameHandicapped: derives from the phrase "cap in hand", referring to those persons who begged for money (i.e. appeared "cap in hand") due to their injuries/disabilities.

The fact is that it's intrinsically undesirable to be of such low IQ as to be 'retarded'. It doesn't mean that person is undesirable or not, but no one would be so deluded as to pretend anyone aspired to be 'retarded' or 'intellectually disabled' or anything of the sort. It is intrinsically insulting to be called less than smart, and that will always - in all languages and cultures - be an insult so long as intelligence has any value (see: Idiocracy).

If this succeeds, all that will happen is that kids will use the phrase 'intellectually disabled' in the same way, eventually. Most of these words - including 'retarded' in particular - were actually introduced into the lexicon to be a PC replacement for a predecessor (retarded replaced moron, if I remember correctly) in the medical language.

The problem lies in using the world solely as an insult with no other redeeming value. By calling someone "stupid" or a "moron" or "retarded" you are offering them an insult on the mental capacity of their thoughts or behavior but without any sort of context as to the nature of their actions. I've often struggled with describing the actions of someone I see as foolish but don't have a real solid description for, so I settle with "they're retarded" when what I really mean is that they're either acting in an ignorant manner, i.e. without all the facts, willfully or not, or are actually completely mindful of all the information involved and still acting in a manner contrary to common sense or reason. It is the second occurrence that most often gets the mentally-handicapped laden response since they would appear to be acting in a manner that would suggest that they do indeed have impaired mental facilities. But when they do not, and yet are acting as if they do, what would the appropriate response be?

xria:Holy Crap: This happened with "idiot," which used to be the preferred medical term, and at different times it also happened with several other terms. Whatever replaces 'retarded' is probably going to be almost instantly co-opted to mean the same thing in popular usage, and in a few years the whiny coonts who are getting upset by a spade being called a spade are going to be demanding that whatever replaces 'retarded' be replaced itself.

I managed to find this out with about two minutes of research the last time this exact issue came up, which is why I find it kind frustrating that these farking retards can't do the same.

Actually if you change the terms to complex conjugations and multi word phrases then they tend to be fairly resistant to being co-opted because the oblique references such as "differently abled" and whatever tend to be difficult to convert into insults, which tend to need to be short and pithy to feed into normal language as insults

Yes, but the trouble is that if you use the word "differently-abled" when talking to me, I'm gonna call you retarded.

\Do you have all the physical abilities human beings have evolved to have as standard?\\No? Then you're dis. abled. As in deprived of an ability that comes standard. Look up the root.\\\Not a moral judgement, just a description.

ShawnDoc:I remember in the late-80s/90s when "special" became the politically correct term for the retarded. The very same day we were instructed that the Special Ed kids were not retards, but special, kids started using the term special as a pejorative.

To this day I have to take a mental pause any time I hear the word special used in conversation to consider if it's being used in a derogatory manner or not.

To add to the fun, the advanced students program I was in during elementary school was changed from "Advanced Learning" to "Very Special Needs" during the time I was there. This was the program where they took the highest performers from all over the district, put 'em with some of the best teachers, and stuck us all in the schools most in need of higher test score averages. Yeah, we weren't thrilled with the name.

cptjeff:havocmike: I've got a feeling that in about 30 years, I'm going to be considered an asshole because I still call objects "gay" and "retarded", even when they're clearly not capable of being either.

Circle of life, I suppose.

Gay is offensive, because you're using a word for a sexual identity that the non-bigoted don't consider a negative in a negative sense. If you said, "that's so black" as an insult, you'd get the crap beat out of you, and rightfully so.

Retarded is different- lack of intelligence is an inherently negative thing. It's already a negative word, so it's not really offensive to use it in a pejorative sense. Yeah, sucks if you're actually medically retarded, but when you use the word as an insult, you are deliberately drawing a comparison to those people who have medically addled brains. The comparison is the important part, whatever you call the brain addled.

So I guess saying black holes are so black is going to get me beat up? That is so gay.

This is like people trying to get rid of the word biatch. biatch is first and a genre for a female dog. Women are called it because so many times they display characteristics of a female dog. When they are in their fertility cycle they are affectionate and want sex, when not they can become nasty and cold. This is how a female dog acts. Women call men dogs and it seems to be ok because fewer men act like male dogs than women act like female dogs which is why men don't get upset over it. If you change the word biatch to another word, women will just be referred to by the new name. So the word should stay and everyone offended should stop acting like a bunch of biatches.

cptjeff:havocmike: I've got a feeling that in about 30 years, I'm going to be considered an asshole because I still call objects "gay" and "retarded", even when they're clearly not capable of being either.

Circle of life, I suppose.

Gay is offensive, because you're using a word for a sexual identity that the non-bigoted don't consider a negative in a negative sense. If you said, "that's so black" as an insult, you'd get the crap beat out of you, and rightfully so.

cptjeff:havocmike: I've got a feeling that in about 30 years, I'm going to be considered an asshole because I still call objects "gay" and "retarded", even when they're clearly not capable of being either.

Circle of life, I suppose.

Gay is offensive, because you're using a word for a sexual identity that the non-bigoted don't consider a negative in a negative sense. If you said, "that's so black" as an insult, you'd get the crap beat out of you, and rightfully so.

Retarded is different- lack of intelligence is an inherently negative thing. It's already a negative word, so it's not really offensive to use it in a pejorative sense. Yeah, sucks if you're actually medically retarded, but when you use the word as an insult, you are deliberately drawing a comparison to those people who have medically addled brains. The comparison is the important part, whatever you call the brain addled.

canavar:HairBolus: There is some name for this in linguistics where a nice neutral term like "retarded" is chosen to replace derogative terms like "moron" and "idiot", but it over time becomes mainly "bad".

I've heard that this is the case in Turkish for words meaning "cucumber". The problem is that what ever the current word for cucumber is it becomes slang for "penis" - so much so that proper women can't use it in polite society. So a new polite word is chosen for "cucumber" and the whole cycle repeats.

I have lived in Turkey for 8 years and I never once heard the word 'salatalik'('cucumber' in Turkish) used to refer to a mans penis before. I might have to ask some friends and see if they can confirm this. or something.

You do realize that 'salatalik' means "salad thing", presumably because the old word for "cucumber" became too impolite. This may be the source I heard the story from - Linguist List 1998 (which also contains more info on problems with sex terms and vegetables and fruits)

((Buying fruit or eggs in North Sumatra seems to be as tricky as buying cucumbers in Turkey, see below.))

Kjetil Ra Hauge, Oslo: Something similar seems to be in the process of happening with the word for "cucumber" in Turkish: hIyar (I\255tless i). The methaphorical meaning has become so predominant that people prefer to ask for "salatalIk" 'salad thingie' instead. The word is still in the dictionaries, and the methaphorical meaning is given as "stupid person" or something like that, but I have read somewhere (and I am sorry I cannot remember where) that it also has the meaning of "penis", and my colleague who teaches Turkish supports me on this.

((I had been told before that a word for 'cucumber' in Turkish never lasts longer than a week. What may it be now?))

Get this, Morons, it's not the word that's offensive, it's the condition and the having to live with the condition. I have a pair of Retarded cousins (twins, didn't get enough oxygen in the womb), and their life sucks out loud in 16.7 million colors whatever word you use for their condition. Changing the language will do precisely dick for them. This sort of busybodied PC idiocy is the functional equivalent of Facebook Slacktivism: Utterly worthless.

Showing the sort of Originality we've come to expect from the Differently-abled there, JBZ. Shouldn't you be queueing up for pudding day about now?--------See, I can use the concept offensively without calling JBZ a Retard or a Republican or a Palin American.

TypoFlyspray:Get this, Morons, it's not the word that's offensive, it's the condition and the having to live with the condition. I have a pair of Retarded cousins (twins, didn't get enough oxygen in the womb), and their life sucks out loud in 16.7 million colors whatever word you use for their condition. Changing the language will do precisely dick for them. This sort of busybodied PC idiocy is the functional equivalent of Facebook Slacktivism: Utterly worthless.

yeah, their lives are tough and so are the lives of those who have to care for them. So if those people ask you not to use the word because it is hurtful, you're a gigantic asshole for continuing to use it.

No longer calling black people "colored" isn't going to do a farking thing for them but in this day and age, many people would take offense to it so people don't use it. It's not "PC". It's just being a decent human.

Deoan:Any time we use a word to describe a group of people, that word becomes associated with that group, and then becomes offensive. Retarded means slow, they are generally mentally slower, and so it becomes an apt descriptor. In 30 years the words "Special", "*insert race here-American", and "same-sex" will be offensive, because kids will start using them on the playground as insults. Can't we just, as a society, stop taking so much offense before our whole damn language is a blacklist?

We were making 'special' jokes on the playground back in the late 80s early 90s.

HairBolus:canavar: HairBolus: There is some name for this in linguistics where a nice neutral term like "retarded" is chosen to replace derogative terms like "moron" and "idiot", but it over time becomes mainly "bad".

I've heard that this is the case in Turkish for words meaning "cucumber". The problem is that what ever the current word for cucumber is it becomes slang for "penis" - so much so that proper women can't use it in polite society. So a new polite word is chosen for "cucumber" and the whole cycle repeats.

I have lived in Turkey for 8 years and I never once heard the word 'salatalik'('cucumber' in Turkish) used to refer to a mans penis before. I might have to ask some friends and see if they can confirm this. or something.

You do realize that 'salatalik' means "salad thing", presumably because the old word for "cucumber" became too impolite. This may be the source I heard the story from - Linguist List 1998 (which also contains more info on problems with sex terms and vegetables and fruits)

((Buying fruit or eggs in North Sumatra seems to be as tricky as buying cucumbers in Turkey, see below.))

Kjetil Ra Hauge, Oslo: Something similar seems to be in the process of happening with the word for "cucumber" in Turkish: hIyar (I\255tless i). The methaphorical meaning has become so predominant that people prefer to ask for "salatalIk" 'salad thingie' instead. The word is still in the dictionaries, and the methaphorical meaning is given as "stupid person" or something like that, but I have read somewhere (and I am sorry I cannot remember where) that it also has the meaning of "penis", and my colleague who teaches Turkish supports me on this.

((I had been told before that a word for 'cucumber' in Turkish never lasts longer than a week. What may it be now?))

well that's interesting and now i definitely must try and learn more...tomorrow i will ask my co-workers about it...i can almost see the women blushing and giggling lol....better just ask the guys.

Get this, Morons, it's not the word that's offensive, it's the condition and the having to live with the condition. I have a pair of Retarded cousins (twins, didn't get enough oxygen in the womb), and their life sucks out loud in 16.7 million colors whatever word you use for their condition. Changing the language will do precisely dick for them. This sort of busybodied PC idiocy is the functional equivalent of Facebook Slacktivism: Utterly worthless.

yeah, their lives are tough and so are the lives of those who have to care for them. So if those people ask you not to use the word because it is hurtful, you're a gigantic asshole for continuing to use it.

No longer calling black people "colored" isn't going to do a farking thing for them but in this day and age, many people would take offense to it so people don't use it. It's not "PC". It's just being a decent human.

Problem is, as many have pointed out, that whatever term you use will soon become the new insult.

But whatever it takes for you all to continue with your denial, I guess.

cptjeff:havocmike: I've got a feeling that in about 30 years, I'm going to be considered an asshole because I still call objects "gay" and "retarded", even when they're clearly not capable of being either.

Circle of life, I suppose.

Gay is offensive, because you're using a word for a sexual identity that the non-bigoted don't consider a negative in a negative sense. If you said, "that's so black" as an insult, you'd get the crap beat out of you, and rightfully so.

Retarded is different- lack of intelligence is an inherently negative thing. It's already a negative word, so it's not really offensive to use it in a pejorative sense. Yeah, sucks if you're actually medically retarded, but when you use the word as an insult, you are deliberately drawing a comparison to those people who have medically addled brains. The comparison is the important part, whatever you call the brain addled.

I once knew a guy who justified using words like gay as insults because being gay is a bad thing, and calling a person a bad thing is what an insult is all about. He also believed gays could not love, only lust. He was an "interesting" fellow. Somehow having troubles finding/keeping a gf made him increasingly homophobic.